


Roll Out Your Maps and Papers

by outerspaces



Category: Lorde (Musician), One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/F, Girl Direction, Mythology References, they're on the hunt for bigfoot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-11-17 04:43:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11268180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/outerspaces/pseuds/outerspaces
Summary: ARE YOU a MONSTER HUNTER? DO YOU BELIEVE in GHOSTS? ALIENS? EVER FIND YOURSELF DAYDREAMING ABOUT FANTASTIC BEASTS and GHOULS? CRYPTIDS CLUB WELCOMES YOU! MEET IN PAC 205 on FRIDAY @10PMNiall starts a club. Zayn is the only one who shows.





	Roll Out Your Maps and Papers

**Author's Note:**

> This was birthed out of thin air, and the title is from Lorde's The Love Club.
> 
> Just a disclaimer, I know nothing about Maine.

Zayn sees the thin girl with terrible roots on the first day of the second week of classes. It isn’t an interaction to think much of at first, but then she sees the posters. They’re small, yellow with a blurry photo of some trees in the center, and _everywhere_.

 

**ARE YOU a MONSTER HUNTER?**

**DO YOU BELIEVE in GHOSTS? ALIENS?**

**EVER FIND YOURSELF DAYDREAMING**

**ABOUT FANTASTIC BEASTS and GHOULS?**

**CRYPTIDS CLUB WELCOMES YOU!**

**MEET IN PAC 205 on FRIDAY @10PM**

 

Friday at 10 PM on the second weekend back to school? This stick bug of a girl is targeting losers and freaks, the ones who didn’t get invited to any of the senior house parties: the ones like her. Zayn would feel pity for the blonde if she didn’t feel so personally attacked by the invitation.  

She wasn’t going to go. She’s told herself all week that Friday night was to be reserved for a face mask and some light smoking in the clawfoot bathtub one of her roommates found on a hike up the mountains last summer. But then she’s reminded that this is something she does every night, and an opportunity like the one this stranger has presented her is arguably once in a lifetime.

Her roommates, both tall brunettes whose bloodstreams are probably 98% alcohol, commandeer their kitchen for the night, mixing cocktails and rolling joints on the counter. They offer Zayn one, but she declines with remorse, unsure if Cryptids Club is wet or dry, smoking or non. The girls never ask her where she’s going, thankfully. It’s probably because after three years of friendship, they know she never really goes anywhere worthy of writing home about. She’s never brought home a fucking bathtub, for example.

When she arrives in PAC 205 at 10 PM sharp, the room is eerily dark. Zayn figured not many people would show up, but for the girl who hung the posters to, no pun intended, ghost as well? She feels foolish for expecting anything out of the night. After a few seconds of standing, trying to adjust her eyes to the darkness, Zayn turns to leave when a buzzing noise sounds. There's a faint blue light, and she spins back around to see a clip being projected onto the large white board at the front of the lecture hall. It's the same footage that the photograph on the club’s posters featured: a large, furry thing walking in the woods, assuredly, Bigfoot.

“This,” a thickly accented voice sounds. “Is who we’re looking for tonight.”

Zayn looks around the room, squinting into the bright projector light in an attempt to see who’s speaking. She didn't know anyone Irish went to this school. “Who the hell are you?” she finally asks.

The projector is turned off and the lecture hall’s lights are turned on, almost blinding Zayn for a few moments before she rubs her eyes to adjust. “Are you the one who RSVP’d on Facebook?”

“I don't have a Facebook,” Zayn replies confused.

“Bastard,” the Irish girl with dirty colored hair swears under her breath. “When you RSVP, you come.”

She isn't sure what to do, so she pulls out one of the chairs she stands beside and sits down as the blonde girl makes her way down to the front of the room. “So,” Zayn starts slowly. “This is Cryptids Club?”

The girl nods proudly. “This is my new baby. I had to fight student government for it, and I won fair and square. So here we are. On our way to find a Bigfoot. Did you bring a flashlight?”

Zayn stares at her and asks again, “Who the hell are you?”

“Name’s Niall Horan,” she smiles wide showing embarrassingly crooked teeth. “I like cryptids. You are…”

“Zayn Malik,” she finds herself saying. “I just didn't want to be lonely tonight.”

Niall looks at her for a few moments, probably in an attempt at determining whether she really wants to delve into Zayn’s problems by asking a follow up question. “Don’t worry,” she bends down behind the front desk. “I brought extras.”

“I’ll have to grab my rain boots back up at my house before we do anything.”

The Irish girl flails her gangly arms, shaking her head. Zayn is slightly confused. “I have another pair of those too. Figured someone would forget _something_ , so I’ve got it all with me. What shoe size are you? Eight? Seven and a half?”

She looks down at her feet. “How did you guess that?”

Niall laughs, setting a pair of short green rain boots on the desk, but she doesn’t answer the question. Zayn starts down the sloped walkway to stand beside this strange creature. “I’ve got this bag,” she shucks off her checkered and faded backpack to show Niall. “If we need to carry anything.”

“You think I planned out this whole trip and didn't think to bring bags?” She seems offended by Zayn’s offer, which is the exact opposite of what Zayn was going for when she offered up the book bag she's had since sophomore year of high school.

She pulls the bag back onto her back. “Well, fine then. Hey, you never answered. How did you guess my shoe size?”

“I told you. I love cryptids. You don’t track them for years without learning how to guess a simple shoe size,” Niall seems annoyed with Zayn’s incessant questions. She pulls out a black bag and stuffs all of her equipment into it. Flashlights, bug spray, a Swiss Army knife, binoculars, and something that looks straight from an adventure thriller but Zayn can’t quite place are all going with them to wherever this girl is taking her.

Zayn takes the bag from her once it’s zipped up and full. Niall gets out another one and fills that too. She waits patiently for the odd blonde to finish before she asks her next question, as a precaution. “So,” she begins. “Where are we going?”

Niall reaches around into her back pocket and pulls out a small pamphlet that reads, **BIGFOOT SIGHTING INFORMATION: MAINE**. Zayn is not as shocked at brochures like this existing as she would have been last week, before she saw the posters for this club. She takes the paper from Niall and opens it to find several more blurry photos of trees and footprints. Niall points at the photo in the top right corner. “There. Mount Katahdin in Baxter.”

Zayn lifts the pamphlet up to her nose to look closer at the photograph. She isn’t sure how she feels about this itinerary for the night. She checks the watch on her wrist to find that it’s already almost 10:30 PM. “How are we getting up there?”

“I’ve got a car,” Niall offers. “If you can supply snacks, I'll call it even.”

She considers the offer and how this would be the perfect time to say, No I'm not going with you. She thinks about that bath and the weed she could be smoking right about now. She remembers that her drunk roommates are probably still in the kitchen, drinking away their sadness in the dark. And she looks to Niall, the weird Irish girl with crooked teeth and a serious need for some haircare, and she feels… well, she feels bad leaving her alone.

“Okay,” she finds herself nodding. “Let's stop by my place to grab some. My roommates are home right now, but they’re mostly docile. You’ll be fine.”

Niall shrugs, putting the second backpack full of supplies on her shoulder. “Ready to go?”

**10:30pm**

The pair leave the lecture hall after Niall collects her video from the projector and turns off the lights. Zayn follows closely behind as they walk to Niall’s car, wondering what might happen tonight. They’re hiking the mountain, mostly likely in the rain, in an attempt to find a mythical creature. Sometimes Zayn amazes herself with the shit she gets into. Niall drives an olive green sedan packed full with camera and video equipment, probably used for trips like this one.

“So, Bigfoot lives in Maine?” Zayn asks once they’re in the car. “I live on Park. I’ll let you know which house once we’re close.”

She hums in acknowledgment of what Zayn’s said. “Bigfoot is North American,” she explains. “She’s found in wooded areas particularly in northern states and sometimes in Canada too. There’s been several sightings of her here, which is why I decided to start looking.”

“This is what you do? Hunt mythical beasts?”

“I don’t _hunt_ them,” she sounds offended. “I track them in hopes to get proper footage so that people know they’re out there. It’s like extreme bird watching.”

“Without birds,” Zayn supplies.

“Phoenixes, Thunderbirds, Blue Crows,” Niall lists off. “Lightning Birds.”

She looks out the window at dark houses as the rain begins to fall with quiet pinging sounds. Okay, _with_ birds, then. Fine. The bratty blonde seems pleased with herself when Zayn doesn’t reply. It’s a trait that Zayn isn’t fond of, but she figures there’s no reason to start a fight so early on in the night. Maybe she’ll get better. “I’m in the blue house three down.”

“The only house with the lights on,” she comments as she turns on her blinker, making the rain flash red. They turn into the driveway, and Zayn hops out of the car quickly to get out of the rain.

When she tries the door, it’s locked. Frustrated, she knocks loudly in hopes that they hear her. Niall turns off her car and gets out to stand beside Zayn. Raucous laughter is heard from inside, and the door swings open to reveal a disheveled, curly haired girl. Her white dress has a large, red stain down the front that Zayn hadn’t seen when she left. The half empty glass of red wine in her hand leaves little to the imagination as to what might have happened in the past forty five minutes. She smiles wide, leaning against the wooden door. “What’s up, Zayn? Long time no see.”

“We’re here to get snacks.”

“Zayn’s joining me tonight,” Niall cuts in and pushes her way through the door and into the house, bypassing all pleasantries and manners. “We’re tracking Bigfoot over in Baxter if you want to join.”

A shrill, high pitched giggle echoes through the hall just then as Zayn’s other roommate makes herself known. “Bigfoot!”

She sighs, shaking her head at the two girls laughing. She motions for Niall to follow her down the hall, past the girls and into the kitchen. “H,” she reprimands. “You know not to make fun of other people’s idea of fun when you have an ant farm.”

The kitchen is a mess, like it is every other night. Zayn recognizes the remnants of mimosas and screwdrivers beside the kitchen sink. There’s a pang of love with a hint of sadness in her chest when she thinks about how delicious Ella’s mixed drinks are and how she didn’t get one tonight.

“Ella’s met a boy,” H laments. She sighs against the kitchen counter, sucking on a lemon probably meant for garnishing one of their drinks. “He’s terrible.”

“All boys are terrible.”

Zayn nods her head in agreement with Niall. The blonde ransacks their kitchen, opening cupboards and drawers to pull out boxes of crackers and a few odd shaped vegetables (the ugly ones are always cheaper.)  Zayn finds one of their reusable shopping bags and begins to put Niall’s haul into it. “How are we gonna carry all of this stuff?”

“Where are you going?’ H asks as she watches them.

“Baxter Park,” Niall replies. “Want to come?”

Zayn shuts down the idea immediately with the shake of her head. “No, they should stay inside tonight.”

H looks as though she finds her quite rude for declining the invitation that wasn’t even hers to decline. The most she can do is blink twice. “I love Baxter. I found a bathtub up there once,” H shares happily. Niall looks mildly impressed.

The rain gets louder as they stand around the kitchen chatting. Zayn watches through the window as the water pummels against it, leaving tear-like water marks. August in Maine is mostly puddles, and tonight is no exception. She tries to grab Niall’s attention but the smiling girl is focused on Ella’s story of the boy she met ten and half hours go that’s already broke her heart. There’s a streak of bright light outside and a crack of thunder that reverberates off of the refrigerator. H stares out of the window for a few seconds before she reaches out to open it. She uses her chin to motion towards the bottle of Bacardi sitting beside the sink, “Pour some shots Ella.”

“I think that’s our cue,” Niall grabs the grocery bag full of snacks off of the counter. “Ready to head out, Zayn?”

She looks at the window sill, now soaked from the rain. “Yeah.”

The two of them leave Zayn’s house while H and Ella drink more alcohol. The sky lights up with thunder a few more times before they leave the neighborhood. Zayn feels like she should be slightly more worried than she is right now: for their safety, that they don’t die or get seriously injured in the storm. Niall has a brilliant poker face, no sign of fear or worry written on it anywhere. The radio cuts in and out before she finally hands over the AUX cord to Zayn with the instructions to ‘Play something inspirational.’ Assuming that Niall is looking for some sort of Bigfoot Tracking pregame music, she scrolls through her Spotify to find the Indiana Jones film score.

“Fair,” is Niall’s only remark. “So because it’s raining and there’s only two of us, I don’t want to get my camera equipment out of the car. But I think that with the night vision, we can set it up in the truck and hang out there until the rain slows?”

Zayn sits up in her seat, readjusting herself. “Where are we parking?”

“There’s a small path that I take to the base of Mount Katahdin. We can park down there.”

She isn’t sure if that feels counterintuitive or just plain idiotic. If Bigfoot _is_ out there, surely she’s smart enough to recognize that a car parked in the woods is something she should be avoiding. Zayn just nods in understanding and waits for Niall to find a place to stop.

The forest is thick and muggy, the rain weighing heavy on the tree leaves. There’s a fog rolling in at the bottom of the mountain and when Niall parks the car, Zayn can’t see three feet in front of it. She watches as Niall locks the doors and crawls into the backseat, clicking on one of the overhead lights. “It’s still early, so we have time to set up with the light on.”

“Okay,” Zayn says. She turns around in her seat to watch Niall. “Do you need help?”

She shakes her head. Zayn sits quietly. The rain doesn’t let up. She finds herself curious and works up the courage to ask Niall another question. “Were you going to come out here alone if nobody showed up?”

“Yes.”

“Do you come out here a lot?” she asks another.

Niall finishes setting up the tripod and sorts through cords to find something, “Yes.”

“Are you lonely?” Zayn rests her chin on the back of the seat.

The Irish girl looks up at her, eyebrows knitted together. “What kind of question is that?”

She shrugs, “Just asking.”

Niall picks out a thick black cord and plugs it into the base of the tripod, attaching it to a portable charger. Zayn points down at the terabyte drive hidden amongst the pile of stuff. Niall lifts her chin in appreciation, grabbing it and connecting it to the small cord coming out of the camera. “I wouldn’t call myself lonely. What about you?”

“Am I lonely?” she double checks the question. Niall nods. “Nah, just bored.”

“Early tonight you said you were trying _not_ to be lonely,” Niall argues. “Which means you're lonely to some degree.”

Zayn rolls her eyes, “Okay. There's a difference between a mood and a state of being. Am I sometimes in a lonely mood? Sure. But my state is being is more mellow than lonely, I would think.”

“I’d like to assume my state of being is gentle.”

Zayn already knows this girl is anything but gentle, though she doesn't argue. The heart wants what it wants. She changes the subject, “Why are you in the States?”

“Tracking Bigfoot” Niall grins. “I told you that already.”

Zayn doesn’t want to believe that this twiggy girl flew thousands of miles to live in Maine, just so that she could track something that may or may not exist. “What if you don’t find her?”

“If I don’t find Bigfoot, then I guess I’ll just have to start looking for something else. Maybe the Jersey Devil,” she thinks aloud. Zayn laughs at her. “Or maybe I’ll go back home to find Dobhar Chu again.”

“Dobhar Chu?”

“Lives in the water, though, which is a problem,” Niall muses. “Can’t fucking swim.”

Zayn crawls over the middle armrest and into the back of the car to sit beside Niall. She smiles brightly at her, having found something they share. “Me neither.”

Niall turns the camera on and pushes it up towards the back window. She grins and clicks off the light so that they sit in total darkness save the small blinking red light of Niall’s equipment. “Great. That means we can pool our money for a submarine.”

“Need I remind you that I know nothing about cryptids? I only came because I felt bad for you.”

She’s quiet, but Zayn can hear her shuffle around. “Nice to see you waited until the lights were off before you said that.”

They don’t speak again for probably around half an hour. Eyes having adjusted to the darkness, Zayn busies herself with counting the raindrops as they fall on the window. She isn’t entirely sure what Niall is doing, because she hasn’t been able to bring herself to look at her. The silence lends itself to listening in closely as the rain subsides, and Zayn is beginning to wonder if they’ll actually get genuine footage of Bigfoot.

With a deep breath, Zayn braves speaking again. “What time will she be most active?”

“Probably once the rain is done,” Niall says quietly. Zayn can see her silhouette against the window pane. “Bigfoot has been recorded to tear campers apart, so I’m glad you’re with me. We can die together.”

She tries her best not to laugh too loudly, lest Bigfoot hear them making jokes about her. Tonight isn’t the night Zayn pictured as her last. Besides, she would still like to try a few marijuana strains she’s bookmarked on Leafly before she goes. She’s sure Niall would like to live to tell the story of their Bigfoot sighting, too. “Do you think we’ll see her?” Zayn asks with genuine curiosity.

Niall shrugs, “Who knows. Hopefully the camera catches her if we don’t.”

Zayn finds herself holding in a yawn as she checks her phone to find that it’s almost midnight now. Way past her typical bedtime, but she’s decided that sitting here in the back of this odd girl’s muggy car is better than becoming a wrinkly prune in the bathtub.

“Don’t fall asleep on me now,” Niall wags a finger at her. “Sleeping women are Bigfoot’s favorite snack.”

“Terrifying thought.”

She reaches under the front seat and pulls out a small quilt, holding it up for Zayn to see it. “If you’re tired here’s a blanket. It’s going to get chilly.”

Zayn takes the quilt from her and wraps it around her shoulder. She watches Niall, checking for signs of her being cold too. Once she catches the slight shiver in her shoulders, Zayn holds out a side of the blanket and beckons Niall to scoot closer. Niall happily accepts her offer, moving to sit directly beside Zayn so that their shoulders rub against each other. She smells like cranberries and campfires, Zayn notices. It’s an odd scent, but it suits the girl. They sit like this, shoulder to shoulder, for a while.

With her eyelids heavy, she tries her hardest to stay awake. Zayn covertly pinches herself, probably leaving a mark, but doing nothing to help her exhaustion. The rain has subsided and now there is a comfortable silence in the car; the only noise is their breathing. It’s pretty intimate for a school sponsored club meeting, Zayn thinks. Before she even realizes it, she falls asleep on Niall’s shoulder comfortable and warm.

“Psst,” a soft voice whispers. “Hey.”

Zayn opens her eyes slowly, fearing a bright light that will blind her for several minutes. Instead, when her eyes adjust all she sees in Niall’s chest. It takes a few seconds before she positions herself, realizing that they’ve somehow laid down and have been huddled closely together, sleeping. Even though she knows that they’ve spent only a few hours together, Zayn doesn’t find any of this weird or uncomfortable. In fact, she’s more comfortable than she’s been in a while, and for this reason, her mind clears of all hesitation and she wiggles her way up to lightly kiss Niall on the cheek.

It seems natural and homey in the back of the sedan, darkness surrounding them and a small red light blinking every few seconds. Niall presses a warm kiss to her nose and sits up, stretching her gangly arms.

“Do you think Bigfoot saw us sleeping and thought, ‘Those two look content. I’ll let them be.’?” she raises the question with a lilt in her voice. Zayn sits us beside her.

“Most definitely.”

Niall turns off the camera and checks her phone for the time. Zayn catches a look, blinking twice when she reads that it’s almost four in the morning. “I’ll go over the footage tomorrow. For now,  
I think we should head back home.”

Zayn nods in agreement, crawling up into the front seat again, rolling down the window to get some fresh air into the car. There’s a thick fog surrounding the car, but she can make out hints of the sunrise peeking out through the low clouds. Niall puts away the camera but she leaves the tripod and cords all set up. Zayn waits for her to start the car, leaning on her hand and trying her hardest not to fall asleep again.

She crawls in between the front seats to get back into the driver’s and turns the key, looking around her console for something.

“What are you looking for?” Zayn asks her.

“A pen,” she replies just as she finds one. Niall picks it up, pulls off the cap with her teeth, and grabs Zayn’s left hand. “This is my mobile. I’ll text you about the footage once I review it.”

Zayn is left thoroughly stunned, staring at her hand as Niall drives her home. They kiss each other’s cheeks in goodbye, and Zayn feels as if she’s floating up the driveway and into her house. This is absolutely not the ending she predicted for the night, but she finds herself content with the turn of events. Four kisses and a number? On the second weekend back to school? Suddenly the lack of invitations to senior house parties feels less embarrassing.

She tries to be quiet as she enters the house for the second time tonight. The lights are all off except for the small lamp beside the living room couch where Ella is passed out. Zayn tries her hardest to be quiet, but the floors creak with every step and Ella wakes up.

“What’s got you home so late?” she mumbles from her spot, half-asleep on the fuzzy green couch. She rubs her eyes, but doesn’t sit up. “H just went to bed a little bit ago. If you listen closely, you can hear her loud ass snoring waking me up every five minutes. Hey, hey. Did you find Bigfoot?”

“No,” she replies. “We didn’t find her.”

Ella sighs, closing her eyes. “Well, I’m sorry you didn’t find what you were looking for.”

In the end, they may not have found Bigfoot, but with Niall’s phone number scrawled out on her left hand and her kiss still tingling her lips, they found each other. Zayn thinks it feels better.

**Author's Note:**

> [come say hello!](http://sunnylesbian.tumblr.com)


End file.
